


See Through Me

by woshuwoo



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, the universe loves to be cruel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-03-01 23:22:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13305516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/woshuwoo/pseuds/woshuwoo
Summary: A case leads Dirk and Todd to a cryptic note which, in turn, leads them to an alternate timeline where they see... themselves. Well, almost themselves.Svlad Cjelli, director of whitewing, and Lieutenant Todd Brotzman run into a bit of a predicament when it seems like someone is trying to take down their entire operation.





	See Through Me

**Author's Note:**

> oh dear. hello this is a weird little thing im working on. im not sure how long itll be but yaknoooowww. whitewing is based off of something called godwing my friends and i made for ourselves (the projects are their characters ;)). the basics of this is that the whole detective agency gang have alternate selves, their complete opposites. how does that fit into dirk and todds case? youll find out (at least,,, as long as i do too). theres not gonna be an update schedule on this bc im a goblin but,,, there we go. i hope you enjoy <<33

“Director Cjelli?” The voice from his office door was nervous and Svlad looked up to see a young man, thin and pale, practically shaking in front of him.

“What is it?” He asked, voice unnecessarily hard. His fear was amusing, but ultimately a bother.

The young man gulped and Svlad noticed how his uniform didn’t quite fit. “It’s Project Hephaestus, sir. We can’t get him sedated-”

 

“Send in Miss Black.” Svlad cut him off. “This is common conduct…” His eyes flicked to the pins on his uniform, “Private.” He hissed, with just enough venom to send the boy scurrying with a wave of his hand.

Svlad sighed and dropped his pen onto his desk, propping his elbows on the wood and hiding his face in his hands. He rubbed at his eyes until spots of color appeared behind them.

“Morning, Director!” A chirping voice almost- almost- made Svlad jump. When he looked up, Lt. Brotzman was smiling at him with two coffees in hand. He plopped one down in front of Svlad and the man picked it up gingerly. A sip proved it was strong and black, the way Svlad liked, and definitely not the horrid brew from the break room, and he deemed it safe to drink. Brotzman was busy dumping half a dozen packets of sugar and cream into his cup that already smells vaguely of pumpkin spice- Svlad didn’t even know where he’d been carrying those. Better not to ask.

“Any news? What’s the plan this morning?” Brotzman cocked his head at Svlad and sipped his drink.

“They’re having a bit of trouble with a rowdy subject in wing 3, but I’ve sent Miss Black-”

“Sergeant Major Black.” Todd cut in, but Svlad just rolled his eyes and continued.

“Yes well I’ve sent her to handle it. I received a report this morning of advances in tests with Pandora. It seems under certain conditions she can be manipulated to influence more than just negative emotion. They’re putting her through more tests now. Other than that, today runs as normal unless the universe decides otherwise.”

“Alrighty!” Brotzman beams at Svlad as he stands. “You know where I am if you need me.” He lifts his cup at Svlad as a send off before slipping out the door to his office just down the hall. Svlad scoffed into his drink. He didn’t understand how anyone could be so chipper, especially this early in the morning.

Svlad picked his pen back up and taped it against the desk. He preferred written reports to typed ones, technology wasn’t exactly his thing. If something was essential and required typed, he’d write it down and have Brotzman do it for him. That man was strangely assistant-like for a Lieutenant. Returning to his place on the page, Svlad focused on his work and easily blocked out the distraction of the world around him. Today was just like any other.

-

“Find the you that isn’t you. Well that’s cryptic! How can here be a me that isn’t really me?” Dirk was currently standing on his toes on the concrete ledge built into the wall of what was basically a catacomb. Todd was currently wondering why cases always had to go underground.

Dirk spun, the flame of his torch- a literal torch, Jesus, what was Todd’s life?- whipping and crackling with the movement. “Do you know of a you that isn’t you? An imposter Todd?” He asked this as if it was a normal question, as if it would make any goddamn sense to anyone but himself.

“I don’t… think so?” Todd said with a quirk in his voice.

“How disappointing.” Dirk jumped off the ledge and landed in a heap on the dusty floor, barely managing to avoid setting Todd’s legs on fire. Todd jumped back as Dirk popped up, torch in hand, a streak of red dirt on his cheek and rubbed into his hands and the knees of his pants, and announced, “I’m okay!”

They’d walked back to the office, a tiny brick front building nestled between a flower shop and a cafe. The space itself was a bit shabby, but Dirk had filled it with desks for him, Todd, and Farah, plants, and a bright red pleather couch, so he was quite happy with it. He’d even scored his brass plaque, which was fixed next to their door and proudly displayed the company name.

Todd handled the boring business of unlocking doors and sitting down to work, while Dirk did the infinitely more useful task of spinning in circles on his fantastic office chair. He wheeled himself over to Todd, peeking over his shoulder at the lines of chicken scratch on the page of his legal pad.

“Don’t you have something you should be doing?” Todd asks, scooching out of the way of Dirk’s chin, searching for a shoulder to rest on.

“Not technically. No hunchy feelings so…”

“Well isn’t there something you could be doing?” Todd sighed.

“Hmmm…” Dirk picked up a stress ball off Todd’s desk and tossed it into the air. He missed it on the fall back and Todd snatched it away from him. “Oh! I know. We could investigate that!”

Todd followed Dirk’s point out the window to the thicket of trees across the street from the office. From deep within the brush something was… glowing? Purple light seeped out of the dark of the woods.

“Does that have anything to do with our case?” Todd asked, but he suspected he already knew the answer.

“Only one way to find out!” Dirk was out of his chair in a flash halfway across the street before Todd could even stand to follow.

Todd bolted after Dirk as he slipped into the woods, cursing him for running off without him. He was going to get himself killed.

When Todd caught up with Dirk, he was peering into what looked like an uncovered manhole. The light was seeping out from under the ground, bright enough to make Todd squint. Dirk kneeled down and stuck his head down the hole, self preservation instincts nowhere to be found.

“Dude!” Todd started, but Dirk popped his head back up and cut him off.

“Okay there’s obviously… something… down there. We have to investigate.” Before Todd could even protest, Dirk began to climb down into the hole. Great. It was one of these nights then.

The space under the hole was similar to the tunnel they’d been in earlier today, purple light bouncing off earthy walls. The light grew impossibly brighter down the tunnel and Todd shielded his eyes as he followed Dirk around a corner to its source. Above a stone ledge, a puddle of violet light was spread out under the words “Find the you that isn’t you” carved into the wall. They were standing the space they’d vacated earlier that day, the location now somehow much closer to the office than it was before.

“What the hell?” Todd muttered while Dirk started quizically at the words.

“Strange…” He hummed, stepping closer and reaching out a hand.

“Don’t touch it! What if it’s like… dangerous?”

Dirk rolled his eyes and grabbed onto the ledge to hoist himself up. In a flail of limbs, he stood up on the ledge and looked into the light. Todd followed him up, squinting at the light. 

“What… is it?” Todd asked.

“Uhh…” Dirk had no answer to that. He poked at a tendril of the puddle with his toe. “Maybe-”

That was all he got out before there was an explosion of light and sound and Todd felt as if he were blown backwards, flying farther than the size of the tunnel should have allowed. His vision turned lilac then white then black as the air left his lungs like he’d been punched. Suddenly, Todd was dropped onto a cold linoleum floor. He could see and breathe, basically unharmed besides the ringing in his ears. 

He was in a dark room, walls made of grey cinder, flickering fluorescent lights casting ugly shadows from the ceiling. There was a long stripe of dark blue along the wall and a large B painted in the same color. Most of the walls were mounted with things like water heaters and circuit boards, each individually fenced off. It was remarkably similar to the basement of the hotel he’d worked at.

Todd pushed himself up to his knees and groaned. He scanned the room and saw Dirk crumpled a few feet away. He shuffled over to him, eyeing him with concern and grabbing his arm. Dirk gasped and pushed himself up on the elbows and knees, eyes unfocused and confused. Todd saw him take in the room around him and watched as the hazy look was quickly replaced by terror. With a surge of energy, Dirk scrambled backwards until he hit the wall, breathing hard. 

“No.” He said quietly. “No. No I can’t-” He cut himself off with his panicked breathing.

“Dirk?” Todd let himself sound concerned as he crawled over to his friend. “Dirk what's wrong? Where are we?”

Dirk looked up at him and swallowed hard. “We’re in Blackwing.”


End file.
